No Nintendo Game
by meatballs in the impala
Summary: It ends how it always ends—with shattered glass and broken hearts, and two psychopaths walking away hand in hand. Sasuke/Sakura. AU.


**status **complete**  
>prompt <strong>love the way you lie pt1&2, by eminem ft rihanna  
><strong>pairings<strong> sasusaku & implied shikaino  
><strong>warnings<strong> angst, violence, sex, language, _relationships_  
><strong>disclaimer<strong> do not own naruto  
><strong>notice<strong> i'm really proud of how this came out. this song was written for them, don't you think? this story is supposed to cover their relationship throughout the years. but it's still au, people! n'joy!

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><p><strong>NO <em>NINTENDO<em> GAME**

_"Don't you know that love and violence go hand in hand?"_

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><p><strong>J<strong>

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><p>The first time Sakura lays her eyes on him, she thinks that he is handsome. With his midnight black hair and smoldering onyx eyes, his pale skin and lanky physique, he is undeniably a God on Earth.<p>

When she meets him, she can tell that he is a nice person, under the seemigly cold exterior. He treats her with respect and he always speaks politely, his smooth voice placing a spell on her.

On the day Sasuke asks her to be his girlfriend, she accepts without so much of a second thought. She has found her Prince Charming and she is not about to let him go.

Six months later, the nightmare begins.

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><p><strong>G<strong>

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><p>She is shocked the first time it happens. They (<em>he<em>) are drunk and arguing over nothing, and their voices are raised and, suddenly, there is a sting on her cheek and his hand is frozen in mid-air, his face abruptly sober.

Her sobs echo throughout their apartment.

Sasuke kneels down in front of her, taking her face in his hands and pressing his lips against her bruised cheek.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs softly.

She believes him.

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><p><strong>S<strong>

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><p>The second time his anger gets the best of him, she stuffs her things in a suitcase and runs out of their apartment, Sasuke trailing behind her.<p>

"Where are you going? Sakura, come back!" he yells at her.

"I'm leaving you!" Sakura retorts angrily, tears spilling from her eyes.

She is glad that a taxi is passing by and she slides in the backseat just in time to get away from Sasuke's wrath.

She sees him standing in the middle of the street, his mouth spouting curses and profanities that she has heard and knows all too well.

Sakura sinks into her seat and waits for the taxi to drive her to Ino's place, far away from Sasuke.

This time, she tells herself, it's really over.

Fate, however, has other plans.

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><p><strong>T<strong>

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><p>Ino is not surprised to find her best friend on her doorstep that evening. She knows that Sasuke has a short temper and their fights always end up badly. And she hates seeing Sakura like this.<p>

So she takes her in and nurses her, providing her the warmth and comfort that Sasuke so stubbornly takes away from her.

Shikamaru assures her that it will get better; Sasuke must have been completely out of control to harm Sakura. Yes, he is a bastard, but he loves her.

"Sorry, but can I use the shower?" Sakura asks as she steps inside the kitchen, where the other two are discussing. "I just feel so dirty."

Ino offers a soft smile and walks up to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Of course, sweetie. Let's get you a towel, ne?"

Sakura only nods.

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><p><strong>A<strong>

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><p>Shikamaru's theory turns out right, for he is a genius, and two days and six hours later, Sasuke shows up to Ino's apartment. He is sober and sorry and he almost begs her to come back.<p>

Sakura accepts; the love she feels for him can't be forgotten overnight.

Once back in their apartment, he hugs her to his chest and whispers into her ear, "If you ever leave me again, I'll burn this place to the ground while in it."

And something inside her tells her that he is not bluffing.

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><p><strong>H<strong>

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><p>It soon becomes a pattern.<p>

They fight, he charges, she cries, he begs, she leaves, he pleads, she comes back.

Ino is not sure that her friend is sane anymore. Her habit of forgiving Sasuke and going back to him is unhealthy and sick. Yet, she knows that she can't make Sakura change her mind. If she is ever going to leave him, it will be on her own accord.

She doubts it.

So, instead, she offers Sakura a haven, a safe house to spend the night the next time Sasuke isn't able to keep his hands to himself.

And the next after that.

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><p><strong>M<strong>

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><p>He is nuts, Naruto tells her, she can't go back to him.<p>

But Sakura doesn't listen to anyone as she proudly enters their shared apartment. Sasuke is there, getting drunk by the minute. She sits down beside him and he offers her a swig of his nth beer. She smiles and takes up on the offer.

Sasuke is not a dangerous man, she concludes as she swallows down the cold liquid, nor a bad one, he is simply a lost person, who clings onto what he has one way or another.

And it doesn't matter how bad he hurts her, it's the good times that count.

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><p><strong>C<strong>

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><p>He is never rough during sex. Instead, he is the tender and loving Sasuke she has fallen in love with so many years ago.<p>

During their most intimate moments of passion, through moans and sweat-licked bodies, he tells her how much he loves her, that he wants her to bear his children, that they will never be apart, how they are two people bound together by fate.

And so, she pushes all the bad times into the back of her mind and locks them up in a chest in the depths of her heart. As her orgasm hits her, she screams that she loves him, too, now and forever.

It's the words that make the fable more believable.

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><p><strong>B<strong>

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><p>"Do you think they'll win?" Sakura asks as they watch the game one Friday night.<p>

Sasuke is sipping his whiskey silently, his Adam's apple popping up and down when he swallows the bronze poison.

"It's a close call," he says, not moving his eyes.

This, Sakura knows, is just another step towards insanity.

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><p><strong>T<strong>

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><p>She's an angel, Sasuke muses, sprawled across the living room's floor, cheeks stained from tears of sorrow and body bruised - a result of his anger.<p>

He stares down at her with a cold, emotionless look in his onyx eyes, before he falls on his knees and cries – for her, for who he is, for who they made him.

The angel touches his hand, smiling softly at him.

He is no saint, a heavy sinner instead – a fallen angel with dark, rough wings that give him anything but freedom.

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><p><strong>A<strong>

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><p>Sakura is in their balcony when the clock strikes twelve and the sky is filled with fireworks of every kind and color, while holiday songs are heard somewhere in the distance.<p>

"It's a whole new year, Sakura," Sasuke says, embracing her from behind. "Full of endless possibilities."

For some reason, she lets herself believe him.

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><p><strong>B<strong>

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><p>The next time Sasuke stands up against her, Sakura is prepared and fights back. She lands a punch on his face and a knee to his gut before she is thrown to the ground, her lower lip bleeding and her ribs in pain.<p>

She isn't the one to leave that time. Sasuke slams the door on his way out and she is left on the floor, crying and clenching her sides. When Sasuke comes back, she is gone.

It's okay, he reassures himself; he knows where to find her.

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><p><strong>I<strong>

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><p>But Ino is not Sakura and she can't wait through everything.<p>

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself? Can't you see how badly he's hurting you?"

"Ino," Shikamaru interjects, silently stating that this isn't the time for this conversation.

Ino glares at him. "No, Shikamaru, she has to hear this." She turns back to her best friend, who is hugging herself. "If you had a little piece of self-respect and dignity left in you, Sakura, you would have walked away from him. You would have stopped him from destroying you."

Sakura gives her a teary smile. "I know. I should have left him the first time it happened. But now it's too late. I love him so much it hurts, but I can't give up on him; not now, when everyone is abandoning him. It hurts me, it really does, but I-I just can't let him go. I love him."

Ino stares at her in disbelief. "That's not even love anymore, Sakura! It's obsession on his side and devotion on yours!"

But she sighs deeply and embraces her friend nevertheless, silently hinting Shikamaru to do the same. He is not the one to deny Ino.

"We're here for you, Sakura. It's going to be okay," Shikamaru says soothingly as he wraps his arms around them both, and the woman in question wishes that she could believe him.

But she has stopped believing in fables long ago.

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><p><strong>T<strong>

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><p>Sakura knows that Naruto won't visit her to Ino's place.<p>

He never does.

Because if there's one thing that can break him, that is seeing her broken and fucked up thanks to Sasuke. He values her more than his own life; she is the sister he never had.

She imagines him being at their apartment, yelling at the top of his lungs and punching Sasuke for causing her so much pain and misery, when all she's ever given him is love.

Sasuke doesn't fight back. He never does.

Sakura sighs and buries her face in the pillows.

_It's just another day..._

Somehow, she can deceive her own mind.

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><p><strong>W<strong>

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><p>"Are you tired?" Sasuke asks one night after she's returned for nth time.<p>

"Tired?" she snaps, looking at him with blazing eyes. "Of waking up every night because of the pain? Of feeling sorry for myself? Of not being able to visit my friends without getting pitiful looks from them? Of seeing how fucked up we really are? Of what, Sasuke!"

He keeps his distance, trying to control his anger. She has just come back, he reminds himself. "We don't need to report to any of those idiots."

Sakura sighs desperately; it's a lost cause. She knows that if she pushes farther, it will only end up with pain and blood and broken hearts. And hers is a heart already broken enough. "Look, I just want to go to sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

He wants to say something, wants to get mad and yell at her, hit her and feel like a man, but he is never the one to initiate the fight. So, he shrugs and leaves the room.

Tonight his company will be Stolichnaya.

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><p><strong>Y<strong>

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><p>She stands in the middle of the living room, hugging herself and crying, while he is sitting on the floor, knees propped up and back leaning against the wall, unable to do or say anything. He hates it when she cries, especially when it's his fault.<p>

(_It always is._)

She walks over to him eventually, as always, kneeling in front of him, and he rests his palms against her cheeks before pulling her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke whispers into her ear, promising her that this was the last time.

Sakura only smiles bitterly in his shoulder, before muttering, "I love the way you lie."

In this war, she knows she can't win.

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><p><strong>L<strong>

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><p><em>He holds her hand and squeezes softly, gracing her with one of those rare smiles of his. "There's a whole new world waiting for us, Sakura. We have eternity on our feet. And we're going to live it all," he says and his voice is a mix of calmness and insanity.<em>

_She looks around at the burning house, taking in all that was their life, before turning back to him and her smile reaches her eyes. "Together," she whispers, lacing their fingers together._

_Then, the flames devour them._


End file.
